


The Trees of Nibelheim

by RuminantMonk



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29410827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuminantMonk/pseuds/RuminantMonk
Summary: A quiet moment in the calm. For the prompt, "last call," as part of the Harem V-Day Exchange.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Vincent Valentine
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19
Collections: Tifa's Harem Valentine's Day Fic Exchange





	The Trees of Nibelheim

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KMD2018](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KMD2018/gifts).



Vincent has been sitting at the bar for past hour, content to sip water and stare into the middle distance when a glass of red wine appears before him, pushed into his line of view.

He looks up. “I didn’t order this.”

“No,” Tifa says, half-smiling. “But I thought it’d suit you.” It’s one of her quiet attempts at a joke. Nevertheless, he takes a sip and thanks her.

The night passes peacefully without so much as a ripple. It seems that for the most part, people have lost their appetite for conflict. Seeing the world nearly come to an end would have that effect.

After last call, Tifa joins him at the bar. That she’s in an unusually good mood puts him at ease, loosens his resistance, and before he knows it, they’re splitting the bottle. The wine goes down easy—light on the palate and in color, her eyes on a cloudless summer day. The red unwinds his tongue and he finds himself reminiscing on his days of youth, back when he stood at the darker end of moral greys. And though he tries not to linger on the subject of atonement, the question of whether he deserves any of this—his new life, his new friends—rears its head once again.

“I think I know what you mean,” she says softly, her words deliberate and slow. “I feel that way sometimes, too. The people we hurt, the friends we lost… why do I get a second chance when they didn’t?”

Her words trail off, awakening within him a newfound compulsion to comfort. A lifetime ago, he was the fastest draw, his aim true and precise where his words failed to reach. But she’s quicker. She recovers (as she often does) with a shake of the head and practiced smile.

“It’s funny to think you were sleeping in a basement while I was growing up in Nibelheim. You were so close all that time.”

Vincent allows himself to look at her, lets his eyes linger on the faint flush across the bridge of her nose, her cheeks, the sharp contrast of her dark hair and brow. There’s an elegance to her beauty that’s emerged so shyly in these recent months of peace.

“I try to picture it sometimes—I’ve imagined you coming into this world while I slumbered...” His words fail him still, yet her eyes urge him on. So he draws on precious memory, hoping to offer what small wonders he knows she never had a chance to witness. A meager gift, a scrap of light.

“I imagine you growing up… growing strong and beautiful, like the so many trees that once flowered and changed color all around Nibelheim. That even in my miserable circumstance I was near such life… the thought pleases me.”

Suddenly, she is so close and on her lips, he tastes the lees of their wine but also something more—something bright enough to make him forget the bitter dregs of lost time, so sweet and entirely new.

**Author's Note:**

> I only learned last year that Nibelheim is devoid of plants and trees because the mako reactor drained the area of life. I love these two. Happy Valentine's Day!


End file.
